Nov 22, 2024
Assumption University Athletics

Assumption Earns NCAA Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence for 14th Straight Year

Assumption is one of seven schools in Division II to win the award for all 14 years of the award

For the 14th straight year, the Assumption University athletic department has received the NCAA Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence. A week after releasing the Academic Success Rate (ASR) data, Assumption University cracked 90% in the 19th consecutive year, finishing at 92%. 

“We are extremely honored and proud to be recognized by the NCAA as a Division II President’s Award recipient for the 14th straight year,” stated Eric Gobiel, Director of Athletics. “Being one of only seven schools to receive this award since its inception is truly remarkable and showcases our student-athletes tremendous dedication and commitment to excelling both in the classroom and on their respective playing surfaces.”

Assumption is one of seven schools in Division II to win the award for all 14 years of the award. They are joined by Bentley, Eckerd, Hillsdale, Rockhurst, Rollins, and Saint Michael’s, which are the only schools to earn the award in all 14 years.

 The Division II ASR includes transfers into a school in the calculation and removes those who transferred out of the school while academically eligible. The ASR also includes over 30,000 nonscholarship student-athletes in the division who were enrolled in the four years covered in the most recent data.

Even when using the less-inclusive federal graduation rate, student-athletes outperform their peers in the general student population by 6 percentage points. For Division II student-athletes, the federal rate is 59%, while the general student body federal rate is 53%.

The NCAA annually releases the Division II ASR, a model developed 19 years ago at the request of presidents of Division II institutions to overcome inadequacies with the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR). The FGR only considers student-athletes who receive athletically related aid, leaving large numbers of DII student-athletes out of the calculation. Because of Division II’s partial scholarship financial aid model, the ASR was created to include non-scholarship student-athletes. 

This article originally appeared on assumptiongreyhounds.com.